Labor Notes Magazine, April 2008, No. 349

Magazine

Author(s):
Wendy Thompson

Excerpt:
Picketers at American Axle talk about the need to draw a line in the sand—or snow—against spiraling concessions on wages, health care benefits, and pensions. . . .

Available Online:
Yes

Author(s):
Paul Krehbiel

Excerpt:
On the heels of a public fight over the Service Employees (SEIU) International’s move toward labor-management partnership deals and hyper-centralization, members are joining a newly founded national reform group. . . .

Available Online:
Yes

Author(s):
Mischa Gaus

Excerpt:
Accusations of sweetheart deal-making and union busting flew thick and fast in mid-March as the Service Employees and the California Nurses Association fought over SEIU’s bid to quietly gain wall-to-wall representation at nine Ohio hospitals. . . .

Available Online:
Yes

Author(s):
Herman Rosenfeld

Excerpt:
The ongoing debate about the Canadian Auto Workers in these pages isn’t about particular tactics, it isn’t about whether or not to consider new and creative approaches (who could oppose that?), and it isn’t about underestimating the very real challenges that Canada’s largest private sector union (and all unions) face today. . . .

Available Online:
Yes

Author(s):
José A. Laguarta Ramírez

Excerpt:
Striking members of Puerto Rico’s teachers union, the Federación de Maestros de Puerto Rico (FMPR) voted to end their strike March 5. Lasting two weeks, the teachers’ strike paralyzed classes at most of the island’s 1,500 public schools, thanks in large part to the hundreds of thousands of parents who kept their children home from school. . . .

Available Online:
Yes

Author(s):
Michael Merriweather

Available Online:
No

Author(s):
Jeff Ballinger

Available Online:
No

Author(s):
Julio Guerrero

Available Online:
No

Author(s):
Malik Miah, Terry O’Rourke

Available Online:
No

Author(s):
Randy Furst, Steve Early

Available Online:
No

Author(s):
Eric Fanning

Available Online:
No

Author(s):
Larry Cohen

Available Online:
No

Author(s):
Mike Parker

Available Online:
No

Steward's Corner

Author(s):
Chris Kutalik

Excerpt:
Your mother might have been right about that old “try-and-try-until- you-succeed” saw. That is certainly the case for the victory of Teamsters (IBT) reformers at Local 743 in Chicago. . . .

Body:
Members of the 12,000-member Teamsters Local 743 launched a reform movement a decade and a half ago. Their New Leadership Slate swept to victory last October. Photo: New Leadership Slate

Your mother might have been right about that old “try-and-try-until-you-succeed” saw. That is certainly the case for the victory of Teamsters (IBT) reformers at Local 743 in Chicago.

Late last October, the New Leadership Slate swept to victory over the incumbents. It was the fourth election in over a decade’s time in which Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU)-affiliated reformers had tried to oust the old guard in the 12,000-member local.

Available Online:
Yes